Dead Birds and Advertising
A newspaper editor famously once told a fledgling writer, “Do not tell me about air pollution. Show me a picture of a dead bird.” The point that the editor was making dealt with the overwhelming power of visuals, and the sticking power of emotion.
It is hard to overstate the importance of a visual device.
The image of a plastic straw in a turtle’s nose was a rallying point, serving to spur widespread bans on plastic straws and single-use containers. A simple image. Other photos -- from war refugees, to crisis moments, to sports celebrations -- touch us and inspire us to action. World history is full of such images. They seize our attention and spur us to action through engaging our emotions.
Instagram and Tik Tok... all visually-central and designed to key in on emotion to the exclusion of all else. Surely, emotion is king.
Or is it?
Here’s the problem: If as an advertiser I show you something that really, truly ‘gets’ to you emotionally, and in that moment … I mean it maybe makes your eyes water, or your heart race, or your pulse quicken… and then … why, right then, as a marketing researcher, if I immediately ask you to ‘simply indicate how likely you would be to buy this THING that I just made you get all gushy over on this handy-dandy five-point scale,” well ...
Can you actually make a measured, reasoned response?!? Will you calm the hell down and answer truthfully? Responsibly? Reliably? Maybe, if you can control your emotions as well as some superhero or James Bond or Jack Ryan you can override those emotions and give a considered response. But probably not.
It is rare that any of us can overcome emotion when such a thing is engaged within us. So, of course, we overstate our enthusiasm, being caught up in the emotion of the moment. And it that overstatement that is the issue.
When comparing several emotional ads with one another, that seems a fair race. But here is the point: when we compare rational ads with emotional ones, emotional ads tend to perform better in such testing because they excite us in the moment. Overstatement.
The prediction fallacy is that this test result (taken immediately after exposure) will prove out in the marketplace. I think that testing might be giving emotionally-based ads an unfair edge due to the design of the tests.
Do emotionally appealing ads do a better job of cutting through clutter? Perhaps. While I no longer have scads of data at my fingertips, my recollection is that emotionally-heavy ads do tend to cut through clutter way more than do rationally-based ads. The dead bird visual up at the top of this article is designed to be a good test of that power. I would bet that it would will out-shout a live bird most of the time.
Do highly emotional ad offer lasting persuasive power? Frankly, I do not know. I am reasonably sure that reflective, rational cognition takes more time and effort, and requires more time than is available in an ad test. So, by asking questions immediately post-exposure, it might be that researchers are inadvertently allowing more emotionally-based ads to get the upper hand in such testing environments, due to the dynamics of time.
Where does that leave us? My take: be cautious. With a lot of questions and no real answers, I would say: you can be comfortable with your ad's scores on breakthrough. But be more discerning about any persuasion scores. Consider that emotionally-based decisions may erode over time. And consider that at least some of the lovely top-two-box persuasion from your emotionally engaging ad? Well, it may not last the night.
As we researchers love to say, "further research is needed."
What do you think?
Chief Champion of Creativity at Ipsos | Global Leader Creative Excellence | CEO | Grand Effie Juror | Global Citizen - RSA, UK, USA, GER (currently in Hamburg, Germany).
2 年Hey Rod Keller - great words. I agree with most of what you have said. Emotionally charged stories tend to do better than the average piece of advertising. But I would say that it is not a ticket to success. Advertising is complex: some advice would be to blend the fresh with the familiar. One needs a fresh perspective to keep people watching - this is where emotions can play a role. But the familiar is just as important - here I refer to the brand: Volvo have produced great ads recently that do exactly this. Too often what is a core to the brand is forgotten about or left off at the expense of other '"sexy" ideas. Let's think back to advertising at the height of the pandemic in 2020 or the recent wave of Sustainability advertising are prime examples of falling into the trap of category conventions. Net: it is not as simple as that - but certainly helpful and don't forget: be true to the brand.
Strategic Leadership | Partnership Development | Team Builder & Problem Solver
2 年I don't know. Being top-of-mind is pretty wonderful. Emotions do that well and deliver lasting power. Trick is (and always has been imo) attaching emotional triggers to something relevant..
I believe that the context, or where is someone's attention when they see the ad is also key for good performance.
Innkeeper & Insights Guru
2 年Great article. I would also say that there are also personality factors that can impact your reaction to emotional advertising. It was my thesis on this topic that led to my career in market research. Fascinating topic. Thanks.
Former Ipsos Exec
2 年Thanks for the positive reactions guys! The issues might strike some as a little contrarian. But I had to make it plain as I think is important in the discussion of creativity and research.